Week 3

Good Evening Friends!!! This weeks reading really hit me! I'm going through a lot in my personal life (which has a lot to do with my professional life) and struggling with when and how to trust in God. This should be a no brainer don't you think. I guess for me its hard because I feel like God gives us freedom of choice as you will. He gives us situation's to make decisions for ourselves or does he?!?!? I mean if God is all knowing then he already knows the decisions I will make correct? He is not surprised by anything that is going on in our lives.

With that said even if you did not read this weeks reading or have the book the premise is all about no matter what do you love and trust in God? 

~ Have you ever thought that sometimes you are the unluckiest person in the world? Those times come and go and honestly are inevitable (as stated in the book), but while they hurt it is such an AMAZING feeling when you get past it. It feels like the painful part was so irrelevant to the pleasure you feel now! In the book it says that "scripture assures us that even when we are faithless, God remains faithful". Isn't this the perfect time for us to remain committed to God and Jesus? 

~ How about the song 'Jesus love me this I know…' ok stop singing :)!!! Do you love him back as he loves you? A lot of people feel unworthy of love or feel they do not deserve it. How about feeling deserted by God? Now thats a tough one to even fathom or think about. In the reading it states that the disciples were the ones who felt deserted by God. I imagine in your lifetime you have felt deserted as well, but would you give your life for Him?

~ Remember Jesus in the boat with his disciples and the storm on the Sea of Galilee? Could this not be the perfect way to trust in Jesus? He blatantly asks them to have faith in him and yet they still do not. Do you have faith in him in all you do no matter what, even when the situation does not turn out to your liking?

~ Ok so lastly, think of people you surround yourself with. Do these people show the same if not more faith in the Lord then you? If not how do you think your strength in the Lord is growing if those you surround yourself with have little or no faith? Just a thought to living a more gracious, meaningful life if you struggle with our faith because of those around you!

I could not decide on which verses I liked the most to end this week on so I decided to add both of these:

* Why are you afraid? Do you still have to faith? (Mark 4:40)

*Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today…. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Exodus 14:13-14)

God Bless,

Vickie

Week 1

The Girlfriends In God (GiG) Team has put together a weekly video that corresponds with the reading that I will also post. They are all very short little clips that each lady take a moment to talk to us. 

God knows what is going on in our lives as well as our hearts. I plan to be completely honest the whole time I am on this Blog. Not being honest does not help our trusting in God. What an eye opener for the first weeks reading! The stories were relatable on different levels and so  to think about in our very own lives. At the end of this weeks reading were a series of questions called "Now It's Your Turn", these questions are quit profound. I found a couple that hit me personally in my faith in God along with the reading. So lets get started on some of those questions....

• What letter did everyone pick about the "trust-bail"?
• I picked letter C, which is "I Know He's strong and can handle the weight of my fall, but I bail cautiously just in case He's not interested in catching me this time". I feel like this because at times i feel my problems are minor and not as important as others who have "real" problems. God should answer their prayers over my own mediocre stresses in life. 

• What part does human understanding play in the process of strengthening our faith in God?
• This question seems like there is so much more beyond our understanding in God. Our faith comes from faith and believing that you cannot see with our own human eyes. Understanding is believing in something bigger then yourself and acting upon it.

• What does the word all mean to you when it comes to trusting God "with all your heart"?
• We hear this or we say this when we absolutely love someone or something such as an unborn child or a spouse. When we love someone so much we give them our all, we give them everything even our lives. Could you give yours in the name of God? The God who people claim to never see, never hear, never believe, and to never trust. 
• When you say "with all your heart" you must put God above all!!! Trust that He will be the one there in all times and darkness, all times of stress and pain, even when you seem like you can no longer go on, He is there. When you think you made the wrong choice, and life seems unfair, He is there with you guiding you to your next adventure on Earth!
• What does it mean to you???

• This question God to me the MOST..... this is the question of questioning Gods decisions..... If God has given angels charge over us, then why are some people protected in a car crash, but others aren't? If God really loves me, then why did He let this or that happen? Why didn't He deliever my loved one from cancer.... from the accident... from temptation?
• How do you answer this? However, my feeling about this is that God has a plan for everyone and everything and those unfortunate things are apart of it. We tend to look at something like losing a family member in an accident or to cancer as we lost our loved one, instead we should look at it as the other family/friends loved one got to live. Or when you ask God why he allowed the other person to live and not your loved one, you are basically asking God to put them in as much pain as you are currently going in. It almost seems unfair at times.
• Can anyone elaborate on this?

• The last question is very hard to answer.... most of you have someone to catch you when you fall. Who would you trust to catch you? Are you more often the friend on the tall stump needing to trust or the friend on the ground encouraging another to trust? 
• Above all my HUSBAND! Besides him though I have a couple friends I can say that i trust to catch me, but I feel more often then not that they are to business for me, almost like the how I feel God feels for me at times. Pretty crazy to think that about another person who I am supposed to trust and care for as they would for me. My problems are not as important or again are mediocre compared to what other peoples are. I would rather be the one there to catch someone else then for someone to have to worry about taking time and effort to catch me.

I end this weeks reading with the things that stood out to me in this weeks reading. First is on page 14 "God wants you to trust Him... right where you are. It might be scary. Tears might be shed, But God is faithful and can be trusted". The next one on page 17 "when we ignore our Father's warnings, we forfeit the safety of His shore and plunge into the ocean of harm's way". Also a prayer from that same page from Psalm 144:7 "Reach down your hand from on high; deliver me and reuse me from the mighty waters". 

Prayer:

Thank you lord for this day, thank you for your blessings in our lives seen and unseen. We thank you for the love and pateince you give us to wait for your calling. Guide us through those storms that come with darkness to find the calm in the storm and trust that you will be there to catch us if and when we fall. We pray for those who have not found or are search for your trust that you weigh on their heart and send them understanding to love will all their hearts. In your sweet in holy name, Amen.

God Bless!!!

~Victoria Clouse

In the Beginning.......

Hello and Welcome!!!!

I am excited that you have decided to come check out this blog titled God's Beautiful Imperfections. This blog is to bring together people of all backgrounds, all races, all genders, and all ages to learn and share with other readers what your purpose is in God's creation.

For the next couple months we will focus on trusting God with this book, ironically, titled Trusting God. The authors are three women named Sharon Jaynes, Gwen Smith and Mary Southerland who created this ministry for women who call themselves "Girlfriends In God". In this day in age with technology there is no reason that people cannot come together, for us its on here or elsewhere on the world wide web, and fellowship!!!!  The idea of this book is to share with others our experiences, our stories about the bible and God and also learning from others about Gods plan or how to figure out God's plan for our own lives. I will post from this book starting in the next couple days. Any and all comments are welcome. If you would like to follow along I will be posting information from this book every other week and comments throughout the week.

Here is the link to the actual page of their devotionals. There are also 12 short videos that I will post along with the book information.

http://www.girlfriendsingod.com

If anyone would like to join my email distro list please send and email to Victoria Clouse at vdeshner7@gmail.com. This distro list is just to inform you that I have posted on this blog not as spam.

I end on this note..... God created all that was in 6 days and on the 7th day he rested, which signified the end of God creating by himself!!!

God Bless!!!

~ Victoria Clouse